TWITrek Character Insight No. 79: Spock

his is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
--------------------
Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we finish up the series on the Abrams timeline with a profile on Spock.



If there's one character who defines the heart of Star Trek, it is Spock. The Abrams timeline continues this trend by focusing on Spock and his origins just as much as Kirk in the first movie. Spock is surprisingly the only major character with alien blood. His half-human half-Vulcan heritage leads to interesting struggles as he comes of age and as he serves with Kirk and other humans.

In this timeline, Spock is an instructor at Starfleet Academy and programs the unwinnable scenario entitled The Kobayashi Maru. This leads to his first significant interaction with Kirk, who cheats to defeat the unwinnable test.

That turns out to be a rocky start to the most important relationship in Star Trek, as Spock ends up learning to embrace some of his human traits over time thanks to the influences of Kirk and Uhura. However, he remains deeply engaged with his Vulcan heritage, turning to mentorship from Sarek and Spock prime numerous times during the films.


One of the most interesting contrasts of this timeline is Spock's romantic involvement with Uhura. They apparently become involved during or after Uhura is a student or teaching assistant in his Advanced Phonology class, and their small lover's quarrels add good flavor to the movies. It will be interesting to see how this develops further.

According to deleted scenes and movie notes, Spock is named after one of Vulcan's early society builders, which is ironic considering what happens to the planet Vulcan. Spock is awarded the Grandmaster title in Three Dimensional Chess, although the chessboard has not been broken out yet in the new movies.

One of the fun aspects of the Abrams timeline movies is that the script writers have absolutely nailed the character of Spock and made it infinitely interesting. Of course, the writers also made the numbnuts lame-brained move that becomes our quote of the week (from Into Darkness):

"KHAAAAAAAAAAAAN."

No, no, no, a thousand times no. 

Actor:Zachary Quinto is the new Spock, and he's had some fun in movies and car advertisements interacting with Leonard Nimoy, a bridge to the past. He has previously starred in American Horror Story, Heroes, and 24.

TWITrek Character Insight No. 78: Kirk

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
--------------------
Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we continue with the Abrams timeline with a profile on James T. Kirk.



The Abrams timeline is introduced immediately in Star Trek 09, as Kirk is born in space during an attack on the ship his father served on. While George Kirk sacrifices himself to deter Nero's ship from destroying the escape pods, James Tiberius Kirk is born and named after his paternal and maternal grandfathers. Quite a different life in Iowa awaits for this Kirk.

Kirk grows up a miscreant and has to be challenged by Captain Pike following a bar fight to make something of himself and join Starfleet. Pike serves as the motivator and protector of Kirk as he takes a bumpy and quick ride through the Academy and his ascension to command. 

While the Kirk of this timeline is not as seasoned, he learns enough from Pike to have earned the command chair by the end of Into Darkness. This includes the sacrifice of everything he can offer, including his life, in the effort to save his crew. Of course, just like Spock in the prime timeline, Kirk is resurrected to live another day.


Although the first movie was all about putting Kirk in command and establishing the Kirk-Spock respect and friendship, Into Darkness dives full bore into the good and the bad of Kirk's personality and traits. He will likely continue to be brash and struggle with authority, but that likely turns into an asset when exploring deep space as the Enterprise will be doing in the next movie or movies.

The womanizer and immature theme is definitely taken to an eye-rolling extreme, but these anecdotes help reveal how far Kirk comes in a short time. If the other major characters receive similar levels of development in future movies, we will all be in for a real treat. Kirk's love story with Carol Marcus will also provide more character development for this star of the show.

Our quote of the week comes from Into Darkness:
"Where I come from, if someone saves your life, you don't stab them in the back."

Actor: Chris Pine won the right to take over this iconic role in the Abrams movies. Pine also stars in Unstoppable and as the voice of Jack Frost in Rise of the Guardians, which is a great movie for the family at Christmastime!

TWITrek Character Insight No. 77: Samantha Wildman

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
--------------------
Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we return to Voyager to profile Ensign Samantha Wildman, one of the many recurring characters on this series.

 
Samantha Wildman is a xenobiologist assigned to Voyager before the ship is stranded in the Delta Quadrant. As noted in the profile on her daughter Naomi from last month, Samantha comes aboard pregnant but does not know this until after she is in the Delta Quadrant.

Wildman plays a significant role mostly in Season 2, which includes her struggles and the culmination of her pregnancy. Of course, the struggles of deep space travel don't end with just birth, as Wildman must watch Naomi suffer and almost die when Voyager's crew is stranded on a planet by the Kazon. Of course, Naomi and her mother Samantha turn out to be fine after a local primitive tribe chief heals her with herbs and roots.

The Wildmans served an important role later in the series in the development of Neelix's character. His service as Naomi's godfather allows him to become close with these crewmates from the Alpha Quadrant. Samantha was a frequent viewer and fan of A Briefing With Neelix, the daily news show on board.


Samantha Wildman was named after a little girl who died in an accident and who donated organs to the wife of one of the staff writers on Voyager. The little girl's parents noted that she loved animals, and that is why Wildman is said to be a xenobiologist in the series. A cool tribute and bit of trivia, but don't tell The Trek Nerd!

Our quote of the week comes from Once Upon a Time:
Ensign Samantha Wildman: Who's going to look after Naomi?
Tuvok: You should not concern yourself with that now.
Ensign Samantha Wildman: How can you say that?
Tuvok: My youngest child has been without a father for four years. Yet I am certain of her well-being
Actress: Nancy Hower played Samantha Wildman, and she is currently writing television series including the new Hulu-only series Quickdraw. Hower has only had one acting role since Voyager.

TWITrek Character Insight No. 76: Sarek

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
--------------------
Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we continue with the Abrams timeline with a profile on Sarek.




Sarek is an Ambassador to Earth who marries a human Amanda Grayson and has a half-human, half-Vulcan son named Spock. Sarek is seen only in Star Trek 09, although he is one of the very few survivors of the obliteration of Vulcan by Nero.

Sarek is shown counseling Spock after a run-in with other Vulcan children in the training ball rooms. Sarek tries to encourage Spock to use logic to overcome bullying by stating that he married Amanda because it was logical to observe human behavior as Ambassador. 

Yet in the face of further prejudice from the Vulcan Science Academy council when accepting Spock into the program, Spock turns against his father's footsteps and joins Starfleet instead. Sarek would later admit after Amanda's death that he married her more because he loved her than for logic, proving that he is like his son in acting on instinct rather than logic at times.

Sarek was set to be a much larger character in Star Trek 09, but most of the scenes featuring him with and without Amanda were cut from the final movie. These included a birth scene and a scene of Amanda and Sarek fighting before Sarek's talk with Spock about bullying. Sarek also originally senses Spock Prime's presence, but this partial scene was also cut. 

Although it would have been nice to see more of Sarek, Star Trek 09 is a strong movie because it tells a concise story and wastes no time ramming through a ton of character development, designed for a new generation of Trek fans. However, Sarek may make a return appearance, as Spock likes to rely on his father figures, as seen in Into Darkness.

Our quote of the week comes from Star Trek 09:
Sarek: Speak your mind, Spock.
Spock: That would be unwise.
Sarek: What is necessary is never unwise.

Sarek: Spock, you are fully capable of deciding your own destiny. The question you face is: which path will you choose? This is something only you can decide. 

Actor: Ben Cross was selected to play Sarek based on his performance in the movie Species - The Awakening.  Cross may also be seen in other movies such as Chariots of Fire from 1981 and First Knight.

TWITrek Character Insight No. 75: Carol Marcus

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
--------------------
Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we continue with the Abrams timeline with a look at Dr. Carol Marcus.




Carol Marcus shows up in the Abrams timeline in the same setting as when she does in the prime timeline: in a movie about Khan. However, this time the crew is much younger and Carol Marcus is just meeting and flirting with Captain Kirk for the first time instead of being a previous lover and mother of the Captain's child. Her character was included in an initial draft of Star Trek 09, but it was cut early in refining the alternating character development scenes for Kirk and Spock.

Marcus smuggles herself aboard by forging orders for a new science officer when Spock is reassigned as first officer once again by Admiral Marcus. She serves an important role for this particular mission regarding advanced weaponry and torpedoes, as this is her specialty in applied physics. Of course, her most important contribution is being Admiral Marcus's daughter, which stops him from destroying the Enterprise when Khan is aboard.

In addition to serving these important roles, Marcus serves as more eye candy to give Uhura a break from being the only major female role. She gives Kirk a love interest, which will make for nice balance with the Spock-Uhura relationship if future movies are made about the five-year mission. She also provides the trademark horror scream for the movie trailers and the grossest moment of Into Darkness:



Our quote of the week comes from Into Darkness:
Carol: My father gave me access to every program he oversaw, when I heard he was developing these prototype torpedoes. And when I went to confront him about it, he wouldn't even to see me. That's when I discovered that torpedoes had disappeared from all official records.
Kirk: And then he gave them to me.
Carol: You're much clever than your reputation suggests, Captain Kirk.

Carol Marcus adds much needed diversity to the cast going forward, and a great English accent to join Scotty's European roots. She could be annoying with her high self-confidence bordering on being conceited, but that will likely also allow her to match wits with the womanizing Kirk of this timeline. She looks like a net positive add to the ensemble.

Actor: Alice Eve played Carol Marcus. She can also be seen in Men in Black 3, and in a starring role in She's Out of My League.

TWITrek Character Insight No. 74: Sulu

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
--------------------
Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we finally return to review characters from the Abrams timeline with a look at Hikaru Sulu.




Similar to the prime timeline, Sulu serves as helmsman aboard the Enterprise under Captain Pike and then Captain Kirk. Sulu is a Lieutenant on track for command, which allows him to fill in at the conn when the captain and first officer are away on other duties.

Indeed, the most notable scene Sulu receives in a very limited role during Into Darkness is when Sulu gets a taste of the command chair. While Kirk and Spock go to the surface of Kronos to hunt down John Harrison, Sulu hails Harrison and gives him a memorable ultimatum. That's our quote of the week from Into Darkness:

"Attention: John Harrison. This is Captain Hikaru Sulu of the USS Enterprise. A shuttle of highly trained officers is on its way to your location. If you do not surrender to them immediately, I will unleash the entire payload of advanced long-range torpedoes currently locked on to your location. You have two minutes to confirm your compliance. Refusal to do so will result in your obliteration. If you test me, you will fail."

Sulu earns admiration for this from Dr. McCoy, and expresses his interest in command to Captain Kirk later in the movie. That means this timeline's Sulu is also likely headed where the prime timeline Sulu did, perhaps even to command of the same ship Excelsior.

Sulu actually plays a much bigger role in Star Trek 09, as his forgetfulness in leaving the inertial dampers on delays the Enterprise long enough to miss the destruction of the fleet interception Nero's ship. Sulu later space jumps through the atmosphere of Vulcan to land on the Narada drill and disable it with Captain Kirk, using his fencing skills. This scene seemed to be the inspiration for the real life Space Jump in 2012. Just more evidence of Star Trek making science fiction into science fact.



As mentioned during my review of Into Darkness, it is really disappointing to see Sulu's character development take a big back seat in the second movie. This is one of the lower-tier characters that could really carry more scenes if they let him in future movies.

Actor: John Cho plays Sulu in this timeline, and he is best known for his starring role in the Harold and Kumar movies as well as a bit role in the American Pie movies. In fact, he established the popularity of this term: <>

TWITrek Character Insight No. 73: Naomi Wildman

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
--------------------
Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we profile Naomi Wildman, yet another recurring child character, this time from Voyager.
 


One of the fun and distinct aspects of Voyager was the long-term relationships, as the ship looked like it would become a generational ship on the journey back to the Alpha Quadrant. Naomi Wildman was one of two children born on the voyage, but she was conceived before Voyager was lost. Thus, her mother Ensign Samantha Wildman was aboard, while her father Greskrendtregk was left back at Deep Space Nine.

Naomi was born while Voyager was duplicated in a spatial scission phenomenon, and one of the two ships was badly damaged while trying to stablilize the ships. On the disabled ship, Naomi died due to a correctable condition caused by a fetal transport, the 24th century C-section. Thus, Harry Kim carries the alive Naomi from the undamaged Voyager before that ship sacrifices itself to save the damaged version (thankfully leaving us with just one of everyone).

Wildman grew very quickly thanks to her Ktarian heritage and genes from her father. That allows her to serve the same role as Alexander in TNG and Nog in DS9, the little kid we see grow up before our eyes. At least we get an explanation this time about the ridiculous fast growth. Naomi becomes close friends with Seven of Nine after the Borg crew member joins Voyager.

Naomi also serves as Captain's Assistant once she grows up enough to hold some responsibilities. This is mostly a hospitality role, but that becomes important when other children come aboard such as the Vaadwaur and Borg in later seasons. Although sometimes annoying, Naomi serves an important role to give the crew ongoing mentoring relations with children and a sense of time to the journey back home.

Our notable quote this week comes from the episode Shattered:
Naomi: "I thought the point was to finish the puzzle."
Icheb: "And learn something about genetics."
Naomi: "If you really want to help, find me a green piece that looks like Tuvok's ear!"  
Actor: Four different actresses played Naomi, with most of the 19 appearances by Brooke Stephens as a young child and Scarlett Pomers as an older child. Stephens only appears once else in the show ER, while Pomers starred as Reba Mcentire's youngest daughter on the show Reba.



Until next time, live long and prosper...

TWITrek Character Insight No. 72: Rom

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
--------------------
Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we profile Rom, Quark's brother on Deep Space Nine.
 


Rom serves as a waiter in Quark's bar for several years, and this process teaches him that he will likely always be a failure as a businessman. However, Rom does succeed in being a father to Nog and is a mechanical genius, which leads him to be an engineer in the Bajoran Militia.

Quark is not the first Ferengi to swindle and take advantage of Rom, as his childhood and later marriage to Nog's mother Prinadora also were littered with Rom losing all his money. Of course, this process still leaves Rom with Nog, which becomes the most important thing that keeps him moving on to become a better Ferengi.

Despite the constant fights and swindling from Quark, Rom's brother is his most treasured ally when adventures put Rom's life in danger. Quark saves Rom on multiple occasions, showing his true feelings for his brother.

Rom's tolerance of his family allows him to be named successor as the new Grand Nagus of Feringinar, as his mother is the companion of the prior Grand Nagus and serves an important role in getting him promoted to that high role following his service with the Bajoran Militia. Just like his son in Starfleet, Rom would end up making a huge difference, leading the charge in a Ferengi Alliance undergoing massive social policy changes.

Rom's best genius idea likely came during the Dominion War, when his idea for self-replicating mines effectively locked off the Bajoran Wormhole from Dominion incursion for quite some time. Even when the Dominion briefly takes over Deep Space Nine, Rom finds usefulness on the station while being a spy for the Federation. He reminds us of Barclay, an unappreciated genius who finally comes of age after a number of irritating episodes.

Our notable quote this week comes from the episode The Emporer's New Cloak:
Rom: I told you, cloaking the cloaking device was a good idea.
Quark: Brilliant. But couldn't you have done something about its weight?
Rom: Uuh... nope. But if it makes you feel any better, the cloaking device on the Defiant is a lot heavier.
Quark: Tell it to my hernia.  
Actor: Max Grodenchik played Rom, and he played minor roles on other shows such as TNG, Six Feet Under, and CSI, and in the movie Apollo 13.



Until next time, live long and prosper...

TWITrek Character Insight No. 71: The Traveler

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
--------------------
Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we profile The Traveler, a recurring character on TNG.

 

The Traveler is a mysterious all-powerful being that the crew of the Enterprise encounters shortly after the initial meeting with Q. Unlike Q, The Traveler takes more of a curiosity-based and exploratory interest in humanity and other races than the Continuum, which sees humanity like we see insects on the ground. That leads The Traveler to be far less adversarial than the iconic character played by John de Lancie.

The Traveler is first seen as an undercover agent helping Starfleet propulsion expert Kosinski develop a revolutionary new method of warp drive, perhaps an early predecessor to the transwarp drive discussed at length in Voyager. Unfortunately, the transwarp theory turns out to be bogus and Wesley Crusher sees right through Kosinski to the true genius in The Traveler. He reveals the true power of his mind and explains that his abilities are based on focusing the energy of thoughts to alter time and space.

The Traveler explains his admiration of what he sees in Wesley to Captain Picard, who subsequently give shim a field commission of ensign. So we have The Traveler to blame for all those dumb Wesley episodes throughout the length of TNG. Thanks, Mr. The Traveler. <>

However, we eventually have The Traveler to thank for ridding us of the Wesley phneomenon. The Traveler helps Wesley begin to understand his innate potential of harnessing thoughts when he helps Wesley save his mother from being trapped in her own universe. A few years later, The Traveler encourages Wesley to resign his commission and be mentored on the path to becoming like The Traveler. The Traveler was intended to be revealed as Boothby, but that revelation was scrapped in the final cut of the episode Journey's End.

Just like that, Wesley exit stage right. However, his legacy as a Traveler lives on in the books for TNG.

 Our notable quote this week comes from Where No One Has Gone Before:
The Traveler: You do understand, don't you, that thought is the basis of all reality. The energy of thought, to put in your terms, is very powerful.

Actor: Eric Menyuk played The Traveler, and the role was a consolation prize for narrowly losing out on the role of Data to Brent Spiner. He retired from acting in 1998 following some minor roles in movies such as The Babysitter and The Air Up There (yes, with Kevin Bacon).

TWITrek Character Insight No. 70: Maxwell Forrest

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
--------------------
Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we profile Admiral Maxwell Forrest, a recurring character on Enterprise.

 

Maxwell Forrest was the officer in charge of the NX Project and made many critical decisions as humanity learned to develop better warp drive capability. For example, he was the driving force behind convincing the Vulcans that Starfleet should continue working on the warp ships following setbacks such as the NX-Alpha exploding upon reaching Warp 2. He also puts Jonathan Archer in position to lead the Enterprise.

Thanks to a pair of flashback episodes, we see Forrest as a commodore as well as his role as admiral. We see the commodore begin to walk the balance between appeasing the Vulcans and encouraging the natural human tendency to explore.

Forrest therefore found himself in position to begin laying the foundation of the future Federation by giving orders and assignments to the crew of Enterprise that advanced those goals. Archer and his crew began to mend the damaged relationship between the Andorians and Vulcans, which became two of the founding members of the Federation. Archer even started a positive dialogue with the Klingons, although they would remain an antagonist throughout Kirk's time.

Although Forrest is often at odds with Vulcan Ambassador Soval, he shows the ultimate respect by pushing Soval out of the path of a terrorist blast while taking the brunt himself. That ended up killing Forrest, one of the few major characters to die in a Star Trek series.

Forrest was named in honor of DeForest Kelley, the late TOS actor. In many ways, Forrest is one of the first admirals that the viewers understand, as his decisions and role are more fleshed out than the "badmirals" seen commonly in movies and other series. This is a nice change of pace for a top level character in Star Trek.

 Our notable quote this week comes from Broken Bow:
Admiral Maxwell Forrest: When Zefram Cochrane made his legendary warp flight ninety years ago, and drew the attention of our new friends, the Vulcans, we realized that we weren't alone in the galaxy. Today, we are about to cross a new threshold. For nearly a century, we've waded ankle-deep in the ocean of space. Now it's finally time to swim.

Actor: Vaughn Armstrong played Maxwell Forrest, and he is possibly the most prolific actor on Star Trek. In addition to the 13 characters he played in 28 episodes across four series of Star Trek, he has appeared in television classics such as Cheers, Seinfeld, Frasier, NYPD Blue, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Desperate Housewives, and CSI.

Armstrong is also the lead singer of The Enterprise Blues Band, a folk band made up of four former Star Trek actors. Here's a sample.

TWITrek Character Insight No. 69: Ensign Vorik

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
--------------------
Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we profile Ensign Vorik, an engineer and recurring character in Star Trek Voyager.

 

Vorik appears in a handful of episodes spanning from the third season to the final season of the show. For the most part, Vorik is seen assisting Chief Engineer B'Elanna Torres with important engineering tasks such as reconfiguring plasma injectors and building the Delta Flyer. He shows partiuclar expertise when working with tachyon matrices, but he is unable to make a transwarp conduit back to the Alpha Quadrant.

Although Voyager explores many Vulcan story lines that focus on Commander Tuvok, Vorik gets his day in the sun in the third season episode Blood Fever. Vorik experiences a pon farr and chooses Torres to be his mate. However, his physical contact with her gives her the same neurochmeical imbalance, and this culminates in an always-entertaining Klingon on Vulcan combat.

This is one of a couple of episodes where it looks like Vorik may become a love interest for Torres. However, despite his nice actions such as reserving a table for two with her favorite view at a luau held by Neelix, she is meant to be with Tom Paris. Thus, Vorik remains a friendly engineer and bit character rather than a more major role.

Every show needs some background regulars like Vorik, especially when the crew is limited and cannot be changed out as in Voyager. It was nice for the writers to give another Vulcan some face time, especially after the absolute dearth of Vulcans in Deep Space Nine. This was a good recurring character for Voyager.

 Our notable quote this week comes from Demon:
Ensign Vorik: Indeed. According to my calculations, environmental systems will cease to function in two hours.
B'Elanna Torres: You say that like you're giving me the weather report.
Ensign Vorik: I agree the situation is dire, but losing our cool will not help matters.
B'Elanna Torres: "Losing our cool"? Where did you pick up that expression?
Ensign Vorik: Mr. Paris.
B'Elanna Torres: [pats his arm] Well, there's hope for you yet.  
Actor: Alexander Enberg played Vorrik, and he also played a similar small role as Ensign Taurik in the TNG episode Lower Decks. Outside Star Trek, Enberg has appeared in the movies Junior and America's Sweethearts.

Character Insight No. 68: The Bajoran Wormhole

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
--------------------
Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we profile yet another inanimate object with plenty of character, the Bajoran Wormhole from Deep Space 9.
 


The Bajoran Wormhole is the only known stable artifical wormhole in the Star Trek galaxy. This wormhole was created by the Prophets, a powerful set of beings that the Bajoran people come to worship. The Prophets themselves give this wormhole more than enough character to sustain multiple stories during the Deep Space 9 series.

The Bajoran Wormhole connects the Bajor system in the Alpha Quadrant to the Idran system in the Gamma Quadrant. That connection allows the incursion of the Dominion into the Alpha Quadrant in one of the better story arcs of this series.

Indeed, the discovery of the Bajoran wormhole and how to open it by Benjamin Sisko and Jadzia Dax changed their posting on DS9 from a quiet outpost on the edge of Federation space into a hotbed of activity. The activity was not all bad, as exploration and trade boomed thanks to the new connection to a whole new zone full of different foreheads of the week. In my opinion, that saved this show by giving it an injection of exploring the Final Frontier, a must-have feature of any Star Trek.
In one memorable moment, the wormhole was temporarily destroyed by Dukat acting on behalf of the Pah-wraiths as he tried to force the Prophets out. However, the Celestial Temple of the Prophets proves to have at least nine lives as Sisko and company find yet another Bajoran Orb to rekindle the wormhole again.

In lieu of a notable quote, here is the great sound effect associated with the wormhole opening: 
<>
 
  
Actor: The visual effects that make up the Bajoran Wormhole were created by Rhythm & Hues, an early CGI pioneer. That effect took 14 weeks to complete, but turned into the signature digital effect of its time. That company continued to work on television and movie blockbusters all the way until making the Academy Award-winning visual effects for The Life of Pi in 2012. The company was broken up this year.

Thanks to @chefrevelry on Twitter for the unique suggestion!

Character Insight No. 67: Dr. Katherine Pulaski

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
--------------------
Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we profile Dr. Katherine Pulaski from TNG.

  

Katherine Pulaski serves as chief medical officer on Captain Picard's Enterprise during the writer's strike shortened season 2, while Beverly Crusher was temporarily serving as the head of Starfleet Medical. Pulaski came with plenty of experience, having served as CMO aboard other ships like the USS Repulse before coming aboard Enterprise. 

Although Pulaski has the rank of commander, she is not considered a bridge officer or a command officer. Nevertheless, she does make her presence felt in many ways during her short stint on the show. This includes performing emergency cardiac replacement surgery on Picard to keep him alive. 

In fact, Pulaski proves to be a groundbreaking expert both in the fields of surgery and research on viral infections. Pulaski also performed successful implantations of ocular implants, but Geordi La Forge refused such implants until well after Pulaski had left the ship. 

Pulaski brings back a dose of old world sensibility like a new Dr. McCoy, hating transporters and believing in traditional remedies like chicken soup. Her character parallels to McCoy include a relationship with Data that mirrors the Spock-McCoy tensions of TOS.

Pulaski is a seasoned veteran at poker, which helps her fit right in with the bridge crew on Picard's Enterprise. Pulaski wears a skant variation of the Starfleet uniform because the actress considered the normal TNG one piece suit to be uncomfortable and unflattering to a middle-aged woman's body.

 Our notable quote this week comes from Up The Long Ladder:
Lieutenant Worf: I am fine.
Doctor Pulaski: You're not fine, you fainted.
Lieutenant Worf: I did not faint. Klingons do not faint.
Doctor Pulaski: Excuse me, I'll rephrase: this Klingon suffered a dramatic drop in blood pressure; his blood glucose level dropped. There was deficient blood flow resulting from circulatory failure. In other words, he curled up his toes and lay unconscious on the floor.
Lieutenant Worf: Doctor, there is no need to insult me.  
  
Actor: Diana Muldaur played Pulaski. Muldaur is best known for her role on TNG and on L.A. Law as well, and she was the first woman to serve as president of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. She insisted on being a guest star credit in the show opening, perhaps knowing that she would not permanently stay in this role for the show.

TWITrek Character Insight No. 66: Christine Chapel

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
--------------------
Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we profile Christine Chapel from TOS.

 

Christine Chapel serves as head nurse aboard the Enterprise, and she regularly serves as Dr. McCoy's right hand when medical emergencies occur on the five-year mission. Chapel appears in 25 episodes, making her character straddle the role between a main character and a regular recurring character.

Chapel surrenders a promising career in biomedical research to be in Starfleet, and her reasoning stems from hope in finding her lost fiance, Dr. Roger Korby. The Enterprise finds Dr. Korby transplanted into an android replica, but his madness forces the crew to destroy him. Having nothing left to search for, Chapel decides to stay aboard and continue exploring deep space.

In addition to serving as head nurse, Chapel proves adept at being an inventive lab assistant in the field. She helps develop a theragen derivative to solve effects of passing through Tholian space, and she also successfully synthesized an agent for counteracting effects of Scalosian water. That makes Chapel a key character in numerous episodes rather than a bit character.

Following up on the discovery of Dr. Korby, Chapel turns her love interest to Spock. Chapel becomes so infatuated with Spock that it becomes well-known and sort of a running joke, especially as Spock always rebuffs her advances. The only successes in romance between these two come as a result of telekinetics in Plato's Stepchildren and a brief stint with love potion crystals from Harry Mudd.

Chapel rises in the ranks from an ensign in TOS to a lieutenant in The Animated Series, and finally, a full fledged Doctor and commander in the movies. She was to serve as chief medical officer on board the Enterprise before McCoy rejoins the crew in the first movie.

 Our notable quote this week comes from The World is Hollow and I Have Touched The Sky:
Nurse Christine Chapel: I am a nurse first, Dr. McCoy, and a member of the crew of the Enterprise second.
Dr. McCoy: You're excused! You may return to your quarters.
Nurse Christine Chapel: No, I'm sorry, Doctor! I have called the Captain, and I'll wait until he comes!
 
Actor: Majel Barrett played Christine Chapel, and this role was added to the show because Barrett was pressuring Gene Roddenberry to stay on the show after being fired following the pilot. Barrett was having an affair with Roddenberry at the time, so he made it happen. She also starred later as Lwaxana Troi in TNG and was the computer voice for much of Star Trek's history.

TWITrek Character Insight No. 65: Travis Mayweather

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
--------------------
Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we profile Travis Mayweather, the helmsman in the Enterprise series.

 

Travis Mayweather has the distinction of being a main cast member profiled behind other greats in Enterprise including Porthos and Engineer Alex, both of which were non-speaking roles! However, Mayweather does not get many lines either, and his stunted character development is one of the valid criticisms of this latest Star Trek series.

Mayweather grew up a space boomer, which is a person who grows up living in space. In Travis's case, he was a talented helmsman because he learned how to fly almost anything during his youth aboard starships. His youth was filled with space shenanigans like turning off gravity plating to jump on a bed with his friend Nora. His family runs a freighter ship called Horizon, and his relations with that family are strained when he leaves the Horizon to join Starfleet.

His talents as a helmsman were put to the test in some highlight moments of the series, including traversing a Romulan minefield and surviving the Delphic Expanse to enter Xindi space. Mayweather's love of adventure and climbing sports also leads him into important away missions, such as the one where he and Malcolm Reed become the first humans to walk on a comet. He also rescued some Denobulan geologists from caverns by knowing the art of spelunking better than others on the Enterprise crew.

Mayweather, much like Harry Kim who we profiled last week, went undeveloped as a character and unpromoted throughout the run of the series. He remains an ensign from the day he boards Enterprise to the day he leaves 10 years later. The character was initially named Joe Mayweather and was a lieutenant, but this was changed when Anthony Montgomery was cast for the role.

The best episodes featuring Mayweather include Horizon, Minefield, and Terra Prime

 Our notable quote this week comes from Horizon:
Ensign Travis Mayweather: Starfleet really ought to think about putting families on starships.
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: You must be joking.
Ensign Travis Mayweather: No one would ever get homesick.
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: Yes... Well, they'd better post a psychologist on board, because I'd need one if my parents were roaming the corridors.
 
Actor: Anthony Montgomery played Travis Mayweather. Montgomery has played mostly in television roles, although his movie career highlights include films like Why Am I Doing This? and Leprechaun in the Hood (again, not kidding).

TWITrek Character Insight No. 64: Harry Kim

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
--------------------
Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we profile Harry Kim, the operations officer aboard Voyager.

 

Harry Kim tracks a similar path as Sulu in the Original Series: a young officer who starts on the bridge right away and works his way up through the years to leading away missions and serving as acting captain on some shifts. Kim turns into one of the most important players in the battles against the Borg that represent much of the Voyager's time within the Delta Quadrant.

Kim becomes close friends with Tom Paris, which is a classic case of opposites attract. Tom Paris was onboard as a convicted criminal and former Starfleet dropout helping track down the Maquis, while Harry was the valedictorian of his class and on his first assignment. While Paris is teaching Kim the benefits of being a rebel or creative at times, Kim's friendship helps Paris transition back into the role of a Starfleet military officer.


Kim and Paris love holodeck programs, doing everything from Captain Proton to playing pool at a local pub. Unfortunately, that affinity for the holodeck leads to some of the dreaded "Dumb Holodeck Episodes" that plagued this part of Star Trek history.

Harry Kim wears a sleeping mask at night after sharing a room with a nocturnal student at the Academy, and it reminds him of his retained memories from being inside his mother's womb. Harry loves Parrises squares, which is the football of Star Trek, so much so that he won the Academy Championship three times. Kim loves to compete at mental games as well, always challenging Tuvok to games of kal-toh much like Spock would be challenged to 3D Chess on TOS.

Kim was a talented clarinet player as a youth, and he saves up replicator rations to make a new clarinet after forgetting his before coming aboard Voyager. He also learns the saxophone to lead a jazz combo band entitled Harry Kim and the Kimtones. You can just call him the original Smooth Federation.

 Our notable quote this week comes from The Chute:
Harry Kim: I'm not a killer.
Zio: Do you want to survive? In here? You'd better learn to be.
Harry Kim: If that's what it takes to stay alive... then I'd rather die.
 
Actor: Garrett Wang played Harry Kim, and he has only enjoyed spot roles outside Star Trek. He can be seen in a cameo during a short entitled "A Super Duper Exotic Fetish Sexy Must See Story...A Tragedy of Oriental Proportions!"

TWITrek Character Insight No. 63: Montgomery Scott

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
--------------------
Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we continue our Abrams timeline profile series with Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott.

 

Scotty comes aboard the Enterprise late in the Star Trek 2009 movie, becoming the last regular crew member to join the others. After losing Admiral Archer's dog in a transwarp beaming experiment, Scotty is abandoned on Delta Vega with a single companion Keenser. This is implied to be the same Archer as in Enterprise, which means...POOR PORTHOS!

In the most unlikely and criticized of plot twists, Delta Vega is a cold blizzard world that is close enough to monitor Vulcan, which just happens to be a convenient place for Kirk to get marooned and for Spock to be placed by Nero. That allows Spock to watch the destruction of Vulcan and then later find Kirk. Indeed, it is prime Spock's advice about the future relationship between Kirk and Spock that allows Kirk to become captain and later friends with Spock.


Although Spock prime does allow Scotty of this timeline to discover the formula for transwarp beaming a few years before Scotty would have invented it anyway (again, to advance the story), Scotty makes some mistakes when learning how to become a master technician of long distance beaming. However, he proves intelligent and innovative enough to win the job of Chief Engineer from the deceased prior engineer Olson, who was killed in action during a mission to sabotage Nero's drill.

Ironically, Scotty spends much of the Into Darkness movie on the sidelines and off the Enterprise as well, following a scuffle with Kirk over allowing the mysterious cryotube torpedoes on the ship. However, much like being stranded on Delta Vega, this story line allows Scotty to be an inside agent in the Vengeance ship when Kirk and John Harrison need to sneak aboard. We also get to see Scotty and Keenser in their spare time drinking, a pastime for a Scotsman that traverses into this timeline as well.


When the third Abrams movie is made, it will be nice to see Scotty stay aboard the ship and not be just a convenient plot solution and comical relief. Those roles are important, but we need to see Scotty actually being an engineer to cement his miracle worker character. Plus, more Keenser is a good thing.

 Our notable quote this week comes from Star Trek 09:
"Kirk to Engineering. Get us outta here Scotty."
"You bet your arse Captain!"
"I'm giving her all she's got, captain!"
 
Actor: Simon Pegg plays Scotty, and he is a perfect fit for making a slightly more comic Scotty following his series of camp movies Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and upcoming The World's End. Pegg has also appeared in two Mission Impossible movies.

TWITrek Character Insight No. 62: Gul Dukat

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
--------------------
Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we profile Gul Dukat, one of the primary antagonists from Deep Space Nine.

 


Gul Dukat is a Cardassian military officer who was the final Prefect of Bajor during the Cardassian occupation of that planet.  As a result of losing this occupation to the Federation under his time, Dukat slowly loses favor in his own military and that leads him on a downward spiral. This progression makes Dukat probably the most complex and fully developed bad guy in Star Trek.

Before suffering a complete mental breakdown, Dukat manages to become ruler of the entire Cardassian Union after negotiating entry into the Dominion.  This move proves to be a costly one both for Dukat and for the Cardassian Union, as the rest of the Alpha Quadrant bands together to repel the Dominion and censure the Cardassians for turning traitor.

Dukat was despised in Bajoran society for the atrocities he had committed against their people during the end of the Occupation.  Dukat felt as though he was compassionate and misunderstood, as he took actions such as cutting labor camp quotas and abolishing child labor.  Dukat found comfort by falling in love with multiple Bajoran women, including Kira Meru, who is Kira Nerys's mother, although he could never get the rest of Bajorans to accept him as a beloved superior and master.

One of these relationships results in a half Bajoran child for Dukat, a daughter named Tora Ziyal.  Dukat sends Ziyal to live on DS9 when he is declared a terrorist in a war against the Klingons, and she helps Kira Nerys and the Federation take back the station during a first Dominion offensive.  Ziyal later admits this betrayal in front of Dukat's second in command, who kills her in front of Dukat.  That is the final straw for Dukat's sanity.

Dukat then tries to destory the Bajoran people and the wormhole by being imbued with a Pah-wraith. During this possession, he kills Jadzia Dax, but he later becomes permanently banished in the realm of Pah-Wraiths by Sisko and the Prophets.


Dukat has some interesting quirks, such as preferring to be called a lower rank Gul than Legate because he feels it makes him seem more "hands on."  Gul Dukat also pursues Kira Nerys romantically during the Dominion occupation of DS9, but she will have none of it.  Dukat also has a special hatred for Elim Garak, who had killed Dukat's father as a spy and had fallen in love with his daughter as well.

 Our notable quote this week comes from By Inferno's Light:
"One man's villain is another man's hero, captain."
 
Actor: Marc Alaimo played Dukat, and he did not take the role until a couple days into shooting of the pilot when the original actor was not working out. His prominent neck led the show producers to give the Cardassians their signature neck ridges.  He can be seen in the original movie Total Recall and also playing other alien roles in TNG.

TWITrek Character Insight No. 61: Dr. Bones McCoy

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
--------------------
Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we continue our review of characters from the Abrams timeline with a look at Dr. Leonard McCoy, also known as "Bones."

 


Similar to the regular timeline, McCoy joins Starfleet at an older age than most of the other major characters. As he sits next to Kirk on the new recruit shuttle, he immediately makes friends by sharing his flask and his story with the future Captain. He was forced into Starfleet after a nasty divorce, despite being aviophobic,  mistrustful of technology, and none to keen on space travel.

Although Kirk and Spock have a tough start on the road to friendship in these first two movies, McCoy and Kirk begin much closer thanks to time spent at the Academy. Bones is so loyal to his friend that he attends all three of his Kobayashi Maru attempts as well as smuggles Kirk aboard the Enterprise before the conflict with Nero.

That act of friendship puts both men in position to be promoted to their well-known roles as a result of the twists and turns of the battle with Nero. Bones takes over for original chief medical officer Doctor Puri when Puri is killed in Nero's first attack. Much like Uhura, the promotion to CMO was not one that was ever going to be reversed for McCoy as he takes to the job well.

McCoy remains a trusted advisor to both Kirk and Spock, although his advice is often ignored by both when their instincts get the best of them. McCoy serves a critical role during Into Darkness in figuring out that John Harrison's torpedos have cryogenic tubes inside and figuring out that Harrison's blood can regenerate dead life forms. Thus, Harrison's greatest strength turns out to be McCoy's greatest asset at the end of the movie.


McCoy has a penchant for witty metaphors and sayings, and he takes this to a new level in Into Darkness. He uses so many metaphors that even Kirk tells him to shove the metaphors before the end of the second movie. Here's guessing that doesn't happen from the most quotable character in Starfleet.

 Our notable quote this week comes from both movies:
"Damn it, man, I'm a doctor, not a physicist!"
Damn it, man, I'm a doctor, not a torpedo technician!"
"Jim, you don't rob a bank when the getaway car has a flat tire."
 
Actor: Karl Urban plays McCoy in the Abrams movies, and his improvisation led to both his line in Star Trek 09 about the nickname Bones and Kirk's line about stopping the metaphors in Into Darkness. Urban can also be seen as Judge Dredd in the 2012 remake and as Eomer in the final two Lord of the Rings movies.

TWITrek Character Insight No. 60: Chekov

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
--------------------
Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we continue our review of characters from the Abrams timeline with a look at Pavel Andreievich Chekov.

 


Although Chekov joins the Enterprise as a junior office rotating around various stations as the age of 22 in the prime timeline, the Chekov of the Abrams timeline is an even younger child prodigy who comes aboard the Enterprise as a 17 year old ensign. Chekov is the most obvious example of the primary difference in this timeline, that being the forcing of the major crew members into their roles at a much younger age than in the original timeline.

In this timeline, Chekov serves as a navigator who has a special talent at running the transporter. Chekov is top in his academy class at stellar cartography and transporter theory, which makes sense given that he can calculate transporter paths faster than the ship's computer as evidenced in Star Trek 09. Chekov also comes up with the plan to drop out of warp near one of Saturn's moons to mask a beaming of Kirk and Spock aboard Nero's vessel in the plan to save Earth.

Unfortunately, that turns out to be Chekov's only real memorable moment thus far other than running the transporter.  Of all the characters in Into Darkness, Chekov is one of two that really took on a reduced role with few memorable moments, along with Sulu. Unlike Sulu, who gets a chance to show an affinity for command in a nod to the original timeline, Chekov does not move forward in character development much as he ends up stuck being Scotty's replacement in a hopeless sabotage situation.

Of course, Chekov has partially taken Scotty's role of transporter expert and temporary chief engineer, so he may be tracking into a much different character mentored by Scotty rather than leaning toward science officer and navigator in the original timeline. That would be an interesting big break, something that has not been used much thus far in this timeline. One would hope the writers make more of a role for Chekov if possible in the third Abrams movie.

 Our notable quote this week comes from the Star Trek 09:
"I can do that!...I can do that!....move, move, move, move...I can do that! (running to transporter)."
 
Actor: Anton Yelchin plays Chekov in the Abrams timeline. Yelchin has been acting since the age of 11, over half his life.  He can recently been seen as the title character in Odd Thomas, an adaptation of a Dean Koontz thriller, and heard as the voice of Clumsy Smurf in the Smurf movies.

TWITrek Character Insight No. 59: The Borg Cube

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
--------------------
Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we profile The Borg Cube from TNG and Voyager.

  

In this segment we have profiled characters stemming from pets to holograms, and aliens to gods. But for the 100th episode, we need to do something different and special. Thus, the Borg Cube becomes the first ship to be profiled on Character Insight. If you don't think a ship can be a character, just look at how the Enterprise is treated in the movies.

And that ship design is one of the things that makes the Borg such a distinctive enemy. The cube-shaped vessel looks imposing and impenetrable, with all the sharp edges bringing a contrast to the normally aerodynamic designs of Alpha Quadrant spacecraft. The design fits the Borg well, standing as a beacon of space efficiency and redundancy that makes the vessel difficult to defeat.

In addition to missile weapons, Borg cubes typically use tractor beams and cutting laser beams to hold opposing ships, drain shields, and cut into or destroy hulls. Borg cubes also have great defensive capabilities, including transwarp drive and highly adaptive shields. That keeps opposing forces on their toes against this formidable foe, as proven when 39 of 40 Federation ships were destroyed in the battle of Wolf 359.

Commander Shelby, who we profiled last week, estimated that 78% of a Borg cube could be destroyed before the entire cube becomes inoperable. The cube measures 28 cubic kilometers in volume, enough space to house hundreds of thousands of drones. The highly decentralized design enables the Borg to assimilate more races and incorporate them into the crew without any redesign of the ship. The Borg cube is utilitarian and mechanical, fitting the Borg personality like a glove.


Although the original foam core concept model for the Borg Cube was sold at auction for $900 back in 2010, the studio model used during TNG is still in the possession of Paramount Pictures and still makes public appearances. The model was scratch built layer by layer and covered with acid etch brassthat was and drawn and etched to form the distinctive exterior appearance.

Instead of a quote from the ship, here's a quote from the Borg at large:
"Resistance is Futile."
 
Actor: N/A

Until next time, live long and prosper...

Special Outro - Thanks for listening. Special congratulations to Mike and Darrell on reaching 100 episodes, and thank you for continuing to make Character Insight a part of your show. I can't wait to see where we Boldly Go on the next 100 episodes.

TWITrek Character Insight No. 58: Commander Shelby

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
--------------------
Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we profile Commander Shelby from TNG.

 


Commander Shelby serves as the primary guest star character on The Best of Both Worlds, arguably the best episode of TNG and one of the high points in the entire Star Trek franchise. In that brief appearance, Shelby provided much debate on whether the crew of the Enterprise-D would change forever in Season 4 and an interesting look into what that alternative reality might look like. Shelby is only one of 3 characters to serve as first officer in this series, along with Riker and later Data.

Shelby is brought on board as an up-and-coming lieutenant commander who has served for some time as the leader of the Federation's defensive planning against the potential Borg invasion. Shelby learns of an offer for Commander Riker to become a captain of his own ship, and she assumes he will take it because she is so focused on advancement herself. That leads her to try and show off during an investigation of the Borg attack on a Federation colony, and her brash style contrasts with Riker's safe style. However, she is field promoted to first officer under Riker after Picard is captured and assimilated by the Borg.

Although Patrick Stewart and the rest of the crew did come back for Season 4 (and three more seasons after that), nobody knew that in the summer of 1990 when Picard's life and character hung in the balance. That's part of the genius of the episode, making a real change seem truly possible.


Given how impressive Shelby turns out to be in leading multiple away missions to the Borg cube, it really would have been interesting to see more storylines about her. Or even more compelling, how would such a brash first officer fit in over time with Picard or Riker as a guiding mentor and captain? Plus, a strong woman lead would have more clearly paved the way for others like Major Kira and Captain Janeway later.

Shelby never appears on screen again, but she is referenced in the DS9 episode where Jadzia and Worf get married. Shelby also appears as a character in the New Frontier novels.

Our notable quote this week comes from Best of Both Worlds, Part 1:
"If you can't make the big decisions, Commander, I suggest you make room for someone who can."
 
Actor: Elizabeth Dennehy played Commander Shelby, and her interview on the Fathom Evens Best of Both Worlds DVD is very enlightening to see an outsider's perspective of filming with the TNG actors and crew.  Her biggest role outside TNG was a recurring role on Charmed in the middle of the last decade, as she has been mostly a guest actress for many television shows since 1988.

Until next time, live long and prosper...

TWITrek Character Insight No. 57: Nyota Uhura

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
--------------------
Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we continue our review of characters from the Abrams timeline with a look at Nyota Uhura.

 


Similar to the prime timeline, Uhura serves as communications officer aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise under Captain Pike, then under Spock and Kirk. Uhura was a gifted student at the academy focusing on xenolinguistics, which gave her the opportunity to be posted aboard the Enterprise as a cadet. Her immediate ability to speak Romulan in Star Trek 09 and Klingon in Into Darkness is the very reason she immediately grabbed this position for good on the flagship.

Although her role on the ship remains the same in this Abrams timeline, the writers have had a bit more free spirit with Uhura than they have with other characters. First and foremost, Uhura is romantically involved with Spock in this timeline. That makes for some great human condition dialogue outside that well-worn trio of Bones-Kirk-Spock that was relied on in TOS. Plus a little dash of romance helps sell movies (why else would Carol Marcus be introduced in Into Darkness?), so don't expect it to go away anytime soon.

Uhura also finally received a canonical first name, although the writers decided to have a bit of fun with this as well. Kirk tries for three years to learn Uhura's first name to no avail, but Spock lets it slip before he beams with Kirk to take out Nero and his ship in Star Trek 09. Thus, we now have it on record that Uhura's first name is Nyota, which means "star" in Swahili.


The origins of the Nyota name stem back to Gene Roddenberry and Nichelle Nichols though, as an author of a Star Trek history book and writers guide asked them for the name well after filming was done on TOS. The name Nyota was a suggestion from the author, but both Roddenberry and Nichols loved it. Thus, we end up with a name that means "star of freedom," a fitting name for a character who broke boundaries for gender and race in the beginning of this series.

Nyota has seen far more screen time as the love interest for Spock and as the balancing of the ensemble crew has been better done by Abrams than others before him. She even saw some legitimate battle in Into Darkness, taking on the Klingons on Kronos before later beaming down to help Spock finally subdue John Harrison at the climax of Into Darkness. Thus, she is rapidly becoming an even more well rounded character in this timeline.

Our notable quote this week comes from the Into Darkness:
"You brought me on this mission because I can speak Klingon. So let me speak Klingon."
 
Actor: Zoe Saldana plays Uhura in the Abrams timeline. Saldana can also been seen starring in Avatar and in a smaller role back in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Until next time, live long and prosper...

TWITrek Character Insight No. 56: Nog

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
--------------------
Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we take a break from Abrams to profile the young Ferengi Nog from Deep Space 9.
 


Nog is the only son of Rom, who is Quark's brother and one of the waiters who works in Quark's Bar on DS9. Rom is left as a single father to Nog as a result of being swindled out of all his money by his former father-in-law, and Nog is thus forced to learn and adhere closely to the Rules of Acquisition. As a result, Nog has plenty of time to find himself in adventures and shenanigans on the station.

Without many other children on the station, Nog immediately becomes close friends with Jake Sisko after the Federation takes over the Terok Nor station and redubs it Deep Space 9. Although these two characters often get into shenanigans in silly episodes such as holodeck stories, these characters share a real bond that is rarely seen between child characters of long-running shows. Honestly, Nog and Jake bring a refreshing twist to the character development used significantly along the long story arcs of DS9.

Although Rom his father would prefer a long profitable life as a Ferengi businessman, Nog strikes out on his own trail in an effort to avoid his father's fate if business goes bad. Nog's path takes him to Starfleet Academy as a Federation cadet, although the Ferengi had not yet joined the Federation at that time. Nog ends up being the first Ferengi in Starfleet, serving a similar role for this series as Worf and Spock.

Similar to the track Wesley Crusher takes in TNG, we see Nog transfer from a kid on board to a Starfleet officer. Once Nog returns as a cadet and ensign from the Academy, he is immediately involved significantly with the ongoing Dominion War. This includes Nog's use as an advance scout, although Nog loses his leg and needs a biosynthetic replacement from battling with the Jem'Hadar.

Nog is the most frequent recurring character on DS9 behind Morn, with 46 appearances all including speaking roles. Nog is shown wearing six different rank insignias, which ties him with Commander Geordi La Forge for the higher number of distinct ranks held during episodes of a series.

Our notable quote this week comes from the episode Heart of Stone:
Nog: According to Ferengi bylaws, section 105, subparagraph 10: "Upon reaching adulthood, Ferengi males must purchase an apprenticeship from a suitable role model." I choose you.
Commander Sisko: You want to be *my* apprentice?
Nog: That's right. I want to be the first Ferengi in Starfleet! Now, who do I see about getting a uniform?
 
Actor: Aron Eisenberg played Nog throughout the entire Deep Space 9 series. Eisenberg has not acted since 1999, although he enjoyed an 11 year acting career including small appearances on shows like the Wonder Years and Tales From The Crypt.

Until next time, live long and prosper...